Stepping Up to Medium Format - Suggestions please.

Hello All.

I am considering a venture in to Medium Format. I currently own a
Nikon D100, F100 and N80. There are a few reasons that I want to try
out MF, but the top reason is the overall quality of the image. I am
looking to shoot artsy black & white street scenes and portraits with
the intent of blowing them up to gallery size.

That said, I am considering my options. Hasselblad has a phenominal
reputation and I have been considering purchasing a used 500CM kit
which has a waist-level finder, 80mm lens, 220 and a Polaroid back. I
thought this was a great starting point. I do realize the added
expense in the future of purchasing additional Hasselblad lenses. My
main concern is quality over cost.

I also considered a Mamiya 645AF, but am leaning towards the
Hasselblad.

Any suggestions that you can provide me would be greatly appreciated.

Once again the main uses for this camera would be studio portraits,
fine art images, street scenes and to a lesser degree landscapes.

I would appreciate and emails. You can send these to my email address
at: and respond to the group as well.

Thank you in advance,

Chris Jett
www.chrisjett.com
~Stay In Focus~

Chris, the Hassy would make a fine MF camera, but (as you say) the lenses
may be a bit pricey. You also might consider a Mamiya RB67 system, which,
right now, should be way more affordable with excellent quality - i.e.,
consider the 6x7 format, rather than the 645 - way larger negative.

Ken
www.wyattphoto.com

"OnSafari" wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello All.

I am considering a venture in to Medium Format. I currently own a
Nikon D100, F100 and N80. There are a few reasons that I want to try
out MF, but the top reason is the overall quality of the image. I am
looking to shoot artsy black & white street scenes and portraits with
the intent of blowing them up to gallery size.

That said, I am considering my options. Hasselblad has a phenominal
reputation and I have been considering purchasing a used 500CM kit
which has a waist-level finder, 80mm lens, 220 and a Polaroid back. I
thought this was a great starting point. I do realize the added
expense in the future of purchasing additional Hasselblad lenses. My
main concern is quality over cost.

I also considered a Mamiya 645AF, but am leaning towards the
Hasselblad.

Any suggestions that you can provide me would be greatly appreciated.

Once again the main uses for this camera would be studio portraits,
fine art images, street scenes and to a lesser degree landscapes.

I would appreciate and emails. You can send these to my email address
at: and respond to the group as well.

Thank you in advance,

Chris Jett
www.chrisjett.com
~Stay In Focus~

If you are experienced with eye-level 35 mm cameras, you probably should
look at the Pentax 67. The camera form factor is similar to a Nikon, just
much larger (and heavier). The Pentax negative (image is 55 x 70 mm) is
larger than the Hasselblad and in the exact proportions for standard paper
sizes (11 x 14 and 16x20 for example). When enlarging to "super size" in
rectangular prints, the additional image area should be significant.

WF

On Wed, 13 Apr 2005 11:48:37 +0000, OnSafari wrote:

Hello All.

I am considering a venture in to Medium Format. I currently own a
Nikon D100, F100 and N80. There are a few reasons that I want to try
out MF, but the top reason is the overall quality of the image. I am
looking to shoot artsy black & white street scenes and portraits with
the intent of blowing them up to gallery size.

That said, I am considering my options. Hasselblad has a phenominal
reputation and I have been considering purchasing a used 500CM kit
which has a waist-level finder, 80mm lens, 220 and a Polaroid back. I
thought this was a great starting point. I do realize the added
expense in the future of purchasing additional Hasselblad lenses. My
main concern is quality over cost.

I also considered a Mamiya 645AF, but am leaning towards the
Hasselblad.

Any suggestions that you can provide me would be greatly appreciated.

Once again the main uses for this camera would be studio portraits,
fine art images, street scenes and to a lesser degree landscapes.

I would appreciate and emails. You can send these to my email address
at: and respond to the group as well.

Thank you in advance,

Chris Jett
www.chrisjett.com
~Stay In Focus~

Though the Hasselblad has a good reputation, it does
appear to need more servicing than average, and
additional lenses are VERY expensive (and the lenses,
while good, are not always as good as some others
made by Fuji, Pentax, and Mamiya in some focal lengths).
As another pointed out, 6x7 may be a better choice than
6x6 for its larger area and closer to customary 8x10
proportion, and all three makers above offer cameras
in this size (and I have a nice Pentax system available with
some really fine lenses - see for description and photos:
http://www.ferrario.com/ruether/fs-misc-photo.htm).
--
David Ruether

http://www.ferrario.com/ruether

"OnSafari" wrote in message oups.com...
Hello All.

I am considering a venture in to Medium Format. I currently own a
Nikon D100, F100 and N80. There are a few reasons that I want to try
out MF, but the top reason is the overall quality of the image. I am
looking to shoot artsy black & white street scenes and portraits with
the intent of blowing them up to gallery size.

That said, I am considering my options. Hasselblad has a phenominal
reputation and I have been considering purchasing a used 500CM kit
which has a waist-level finder, 80mm lens, 220 and a Polaroid back. I
thought this was a great starting point. I do realize the added
expense in the future of purchasing additional Hasselblad lenses. My
main concern is quality over cost.

I also considered a Mamiya 645AF, but am leaning towards the
Hasselblad.

Any suggestions that you can provide me would be greatly appreciated.

Once again the main uses for this camera would be studio portraits,
fine art images, street scenes and to a lesser degree landscapes.

I would appreciate and emails. You can send these to my email address
at: and respond to the group as well.

Thank you in advance,

Chris Jett
www.chrisjett.com
~Stay In Focus~

In article .com,
"OnSafari" wrote:

Any suggestions that you can provide me would be greatly appreciated.

Once again the main uses for this camera would be studio portraits,
fine art images, street scenes and to a lesser degree landscapes.

Do you want square or rectangular,....thats a big consideration?

If I was doing artsy fartsy imagery solely and want to do candid street
scenes I would consider an ergonomic camera like the Fuji rangefinders
or maybe a Bronica 645 Range finder....I am sure there are other similar
options but those would be my choices,...BTW my MF is a SQai but I need
the square for magazine work.

--
LF Website @ http://members.verizon.net/~gregoryblank

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President,
or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong,
is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable
to the American public."--Theodore Roosevelt, May 7, 1918

Thank you so far to all who have responded. I am looking to purchase
some sort of MF system within the next few days. (I don't know why
there is a rush, maybe I feel like I need something new in my life.)

As far as wanting square or rectangular images, I'm not sure if I put
much consideration in to this. (I'm hearing laughter). I tend to like
square images because you rarely see them, but that said, I usually
crop any images I shoot. I love to crop - somtimes I find new
perspectives inside a photo I shot due to cropping. Also unique sized
cropping to me tends to stand out from the norm.

I am keeping my eye on a Hasselblad 500CW system on eBay (I am
currently winning the auction), but I am also considering two Mamiya
RB67 systems. I have to admit that it is nice that the RB system is
cheaper and I could always put the extra money in to other accessories.

This of course leads me to ask if any of you have had any working
knowledge of the Mamiya RB67. I'd love to hear your thoughts about it.
I am going to do a Google search for additional user reviews.

I am aware that Mamiya made an RB67, an RB67S, and their current RB67
Pro SD systems. The two RB systems I am looking at are the original
67's. Is anyone familiar what each system had to offer above the
previous. Also, what seemes to be the pros and more importantly the
cons about the original RB67?

Any chance that the Mamiya's took a Polaroid back?

Thank you all for helping me out in steering me towards a MF system
that I can growth with and use for years to come. I am very passionate
about my photography, and after MF, I will probably eventually look at
large format as well.

Cheers,

Chris Jett
www.ChrisJett.com

~Stay in Focus~

I'd like to follow up on my last email. I did find out that the RB67
takes a Polaroid back, which I like. I did not mention this, but the
RB67 has bellows, which I have never used on a camera before. Is there
an additional learning curve here?

Thank you again,

Chris

OnSafari wrote:
I'd like to follow up on my last email. I did find out that the RB67
takes a Polaroid back, which I like. I did not mention this, but the
RB67 has bellows, which I have never used on a camera before. Is there
an additional learning curve here?

Thank you again,

Chris


Hi Chris,

I use the RB67 a lot and really like it. It is suitable for any job you
can imagine. Only drawback is the size and the weight.
If you buy, I suggest to leave the original and go for a S or SD. The
original has no securities for double exposures etc. The SD has the only
advantage of a bigger throat to accommodate the 500 apo and the 75
shift. You can use all accessories and film backs on all the bodies
except for the earlier mentioned lenses.
The bellows does not need a learning curve. Actually it is very
convenient and makes the lenses even cheaper because they don't need a
focusing mechanism. It also makes it possible to come much closer
without the use of extra rings.
Although the early non 'C' lenses are oke, you better buy 'C' lenses.
These can still be serviced and have a better coating.
I'd say, go for it and never look back.

Regards,

Michiel Fokkema

Hello All.

I just wanted to follow up with you all to let you know that I
purchased my MF system today. I had been searching on eBay at quite a
few auctions and looked on the MF marketplace as well. I had some
great suggestions from you all and had some of my own ideas going in to
this. In the end I went down to Charlotte Camera, my local camera
store to see what they had used. Even though I live in Charlotte, I
travel so often that I never actually shopped for cameras in Charlotte,
and this was my first introduction to the store.

From what I found out, Charlotte Camera ranks quite high in being one
of the best known used camera outlets (they also sell new too). I was
pleased to see that they had quite a large section of used MF cameras.
In fact they had every camera that was suggested to me, so I actually
got a chance to hold them all. My salesperson, Lauren was great at
walking me through all the models and letting me know the strengths and
weaknesses to each. In the end I purchased a Mamiya RZ67 Pro II with a
120 back, a Polaroid back, a waist-level finder and a 180mm lens. I
also picked up a new Macro flash and a 300-700mm lens for my Nikon
cameras. Lauren made me an excellent package price, and as they had
just moved in to their new location, they had a 10% discount on all MF
systems. As a result, I wound up getting a near mint (9+) RZ 67 Pro II
system for less than used models are selling on eBay for. Needless to
say, I am thrilled.

So, thank you all again for your advice. I did check out any camera
that was suggested to me, but I liked how the Mamiya was layed out, and
even though it is quite heavy and large, I kept finding myself drawn to
it. I'll start shooting this weekend!

I very much appreciate all of you.

Chris Jett
www.ChrisJett.com

~Stay in Focus~

looking at your images, i'd say:
you could either pick up and old p.o.s. ecBronica with waist level
finder
great for candid shots of people when you don't want them to know
otherwise,
the Pentax 6x7 is pretty awesome and you can always cut the top
centimeter off if you want to be a square.
A Blad is a lovely creature but I wouldn't go from an F100 and D100 to
a Blad, actually, the ecBronica might be a bit confusing too.
Anyway, shoot a heap of Velvia and have a blast, you can crop to your
hearts content.